Beau Leroux took advantage of a defensive breakdown in the 76th minute to score the deciding goal as the San Jose Earthquakes defeated FC Dallas 4-2 in on Wednesday in a back-and-forth match at Frisco, Texas.
The start of the game was delayed 90 minutes because of lightning.
The Earthquakes (7-7-5, 26 points) won for the first time since May 28 and earned points for the eighth time in their past nine league matches (4-1-4).
Dallas (5-7-6, 21 points) could not build on a road victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday and is now 1-4-3 in its past eight outings. The Toros, who ended the night with just nine players on the pitch, have won just once in MLS play since April 27.
FC Dallas’ Petar Musa broke through in the 30th minute, turning around a brilliant pass from Luciano Acosta and putting a left-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net past San Jose goalkeeper Daniel.
The Earthquakes leveled the match in the 50th minute when Cristian Arango waited on the far side before heading home a pass into the box on a corner kick from Cristian Espinoza.
San Jose went in front in the 57th minute as Josef Martinez ran onto a centering pass from Espinoza at the near post, flicking the ball behind Toros goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
The lead lasted until the 68th minute, when Shaq Moore made quick work of a rebound, finding the center of the goal after Musa’s shot was saved off the line by a San Jose defender.
The Earthquakes had the answer, jumping back to the lead in the 76th minute when Leroux had his considerable effort in the match rewarded when he stole a lazy pass by Dallas defender Alvaro Augusto and beat Paes to the bottom left corner.
The Toros’ chance to come back from the late deficit was severely compromised when Kaick was shown a red card for violent contact in the 79th minute, forcing Dallas to play the rest of the match short-handed.
Dallas’ Sebastien Ibeagha was also shown a red card, in the 85th minute. Sam Jose’s Mark-Anthony Kaye punctuated the win with the match’s final tally nine minutes into second-half stoppage time.
–Field Level Media
